I love college baseball. If you've followed me long enough, you're probably heard me say that the College World Series is my favorite event on the baseball calendar.
I've attended parts of 31 different CWS in Omaha, including 30 championship-determining games and probably close to 300 contests overall. Because the MLB Draft Combine now conflicts with the CWS, I haven't been back to Charles Schwab Field since 2019, something I need to rectify.
I'm excited that the 2024 NCAA Division I season begins Feb. 16, and equally enthused to get to call three games from the Desert Invitational tournament in Arizona with Gregg Caserta and Dan Plesac on MLB Network. To preview the upcoming season, I've assembled my College All-Prospect Team for the 2024 Draft. Looking back at the 2023 version, 10 of the 11 players wound up going in the first round, all of them in the first 19 selections.
Malcolm Moore, C, Stanford: The best of a deep pool of sophomore-eligible prospects, he's easy to dream on with huge raw power and solid arm strength.
Nick Kurtz, 1B, Wake Forest: His combination of hitting ability, power and discipline could allow him to join Spencer Torkelson (2020) as the only college first basemen to go No. 1 overall in 60 Drafts.
Travis Bazzana, 2B, Oregon State: An Australian, he set a school record with 36 steals last spring and won the Cape Cod League batting title (.375) and MVP award during the summer.
Tommy White, 3B, Louisiana State: Tommy Tanks set an NCAA Division I freshman record with 27 homers in 2022, then led D-I with 105 RBIs and played a huge role in LSU's national title last year.
J.J. Wetherholt, SS, West Virginia: MLB Pipeline's top-rated Draft prospect, he's the best pure hitter available and won the D-I batting crown (.449) as a sophomore.
Charlie Condon, OF, Georgia: The consensus national freshman of the year in 2023, he batted .386/.484/.800 with 25 homers while displaying an offensive profile similar to Kurtz's.
Vance Honeycutt, OF, North Carolina: He's coming off a rough sophomore season but he's still a potential five-tool center fielder with more physical ability than anyone on this squad.
Seaver King, OF, Wake Forest: A gifted hitter with well above-average speed and plenty of versatility, he fashioned a 47-game hitting streak at NCAA Division II Wingate (N.C). in 2022-23 before switching schools.
Jac Caglianone, 1B/LHP, Florida: Comparing anyone to Shohei Ohtani is ridiculous, so don't go there. But Caglianone is an intriguing two-way talent who topped D-I with 33 homers last year while running his fastball up to 99 mph.
Josh Hartle, LHP, Wake Forest: The most polished pitcher in this college class, he has feel for four quality pitches
Chase Burns, RHP, Wake Forest: Yes, that's four Demon Deacons. A Tennessee transfer, he can reach 102 mph with his fastball and elicited a 61 percent swing-and-miss rate with his slider a year ago.
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IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE ... |
If college baseball players faced the same Draft rules that college football players do and had to wait until three years after their high school class graduated to turn pro, then the above all-prospect team would look almost entirely different. Kurtz still would be the first baseman, but the rest of the squad would consist of current pros who rank near the top of our 2024 Top 100 list:
Harry Ford, C, Georgia Tech (Mariners)
Nick Kurtz, 1B, Wake Forest
Jackson Holliday, 2B, Oklahoma State (Orioles)
Colson Montgomery, 3B, Indiana (White Sox)
Jordan Lawlar, SS, Vanderbilt (Diamondbacks)
Max Clark, OF, Vanderbilt (Tigers)
Walker Jenkins, OF, North Carolina (Twins)
James Wood, OF, Mississippi State (Nationals)
Carson Williams, SS/RHP, California (Rays)
Ricky Tiedemann, LHP, San Diego State (Blue Jays)
Jackson Jobe, RHP, Mississippi (Tigers)
I listed players with the schools to whom they were committed out of high school, with one sort-of exception. Tiedemann originally planned on going to San Diego State, switched to Long Beach (Calif.) CC to be eligible for the 2021 Draft, then wound up pitching at Golden West (Calif.) JC when Long Beach cancelled sports during the pandemic.
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Wake Forest has four players on our all-college-prospect team above and they're all potential first-round picks, as is Demon Deacons right-hander Michael Massey. The record for most first-rounders produced by a school is three, which has been accomplished seven different times. Which program was the first to pull off this feat?
A. Fresno State
B. Miami
C. Michigan
D. Rice
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On
Feb. 6, 2018, the Angels invited 19 non-roster players to big league Spring Training, including one
Shohei Ohtani. Signed for $2,315,000 after starring for five seasons in Japan, he offered plenty of intrigue with his desire to both hit and pitch in the Majors. His glowing scouting reports seemed almost too good to be true -- he had the best combination of stuff and control grades among pitchers and the second-best amalgamation of tools grades among position players on MLB Pipeline's Top 100 list -- but he actually struggled in the Cactus League. Ohtani went 4-for-32 with 10 strikeouts at the plate and gave up more runs (nine) than he recorded outs (eight) on the mound, then dispelled any concerns by launching his MLB career by winning the American League Rookie of the Year award.
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C. Michigan
The Wolverines became the first college to have three first-rounders in one Draft in 1979, when Rick Leach (also an All-America quarterback who had finished third in Heisman Trophy balloting), Steve Howe and
Steve Perry went in the top 25 selections. The first program to match that accomplishment was Fresno State in 1989 (Steve Hosey, Eddie Zosky, Tom Goodwin), followed by Rice in 2004 (Philip Humber, Jeff Niemann, Wade Townsend) and Miami in 2008 (Yonder Alonso, Jemile Weeks, Carlos Gutierrez). The last three occasions happened in a four-year span: Vanderbilt in 2015 (
Dansby Swanson, Carson Fulmer, Walker Buehler), Louisville in 2016 (Corey Ray, Zack Burdi, Will Smith) and Florida in 2018 (Jonathan India, Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar).
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